Methodology: a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

DESIGN THINKING

Design Thinking is the essence of Humanity Centred Design. It helps to find a start and guides the designers and the product team to the finish. It is a mix of speed and slowness, diverging and converging to enable the design of products to be usable, useful and delightful.

Definition: "The design-thinking ideology asserts that a hands-on, user-centric approach to problem solving can lead to innovation, and innovation can lead to differentiation and a competitive advantage. This hands-on, user-centric approach is defined by the design-thinking process and comprises 6 distinct phases."

The industry experts roughly defines Design Thinking in the same way but there's no official agreement.

https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/design-thinking/

ONE METHODOLOGY MULTIPLE METHODS

Discovery, Define, Design and Validate is commonly used to describe the phases on which methods/disciplines will be used to make sure a successful outcome can be achieved or passed on to the next phase.

User Research

No assumptions. All it matters is the people, their needs, frustrations and goals.

User research focus on people's behaviour and what motivates them to pursue a certain task/job.

Product Design

It's the translation of the insights into visuals that meets people's needs and resolve their frustrations.

It does that by generating visual affordances to help people understand what to do.

Service Design

It's the story on how people experience a certain service. Their journey/actions with active and passive interactions.

What systems are or aren't usable and useful to pursue their goals.

Testing

"Make it right first time" it does not exist. It's about validating design, journeys and flows with people to enable products or services to become truly people centred by applying continuous improvements.

EVERY METHODOLOGY NEEDS STRATEGY

Strategy: a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim.

Definitions from Oxford Languages

Strategy is often confused with tactic but strategy is way harder. The art of planning in advance operations/activities is paramount for "good" design to be achieved. Having the elements for a creating a strategic approach by utilising the proper methods is essential.

https://uxplanet.org/ux-will-happen-anyway-tactics-vs-strategy-76c52d0ed25b

UNDERSTANDING THE BUSINESS UX MATURITY

For a good plan to take place it's important to know where we stand in the business and how much buy-in we can get.

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-maturity-model/

SOURCING THE RIGHT UX STRATEGY

Gather business knowledge asking critical questions to find out what's the objective, the scope and how we will know that the project succeeded.

https://experiencinginformation.com/2014/08/12/ux-strategy-blueprint/

A PLAN TO LEVERAGE UX STRATEGY

Depending on the maturity level of the business, UX and service design will be more or less integrated in the project strategy. The aim is to have multiple workstreams in which UX and service design can live and thrive with the other project activities.